My favorite room...and Recessionista coach purse giveaway

I love nurseries! There is something about them that makes me feel peaceful and content. I thought I would share Chase's room on here-because with the holidays approaching and my new "chore" list to make me more productive at home-I haven't had too much time. Also, head on over to http://www.recessionistaparty.com/ for a chance to win a $500 Coach purse!! So generous!


My favorite thing about Chase's room that I love is the stripes painted on one wall-I wish I could tell you how I did it-but my mother graciously did it-didn't she do a great job!




The space above the dresser has been blank and I was trying to find something to fill it with-the other day I came across these old frames in the basement that I had been planning on spray painting-however the wood is perfect for Chase's room-I bought some cute scrapbook paper and put those over the mat to give it a little more flair. I think they turned out cute. *After taking these pictures-they seem a little small/high for the space-may have to play around with that.





On his dresser, take notice to a neat idea that someone made at our church for baby dedication. I thought it was a great idea--it's called a Faith Box and it was started on the day of his dedication with a little certificate and we (as well as the grandparents) wrote a letter about the day and what we hope for him as he grows spiritually. We are to put things in there that are significant to his spiritual growth as he grows up.






The letters were purchased at Hobby Lobby (bought at 50% off) and then painted. Here is a closeup of his bedding too-I think it's so cute!




And last but not least is again something made by my very crafty-wish I had her talents Mother...isn't is beautiful! She even has it monogrammed with his birth statistics and name.




So there it is-a room full of crafts-though most not completed by me!! If you see the trashcan next to the changing table-that was completed by me--notice I did not get a close up of that-secondary to my lack of painting talents-but I am trying! I am posting this to www.asoftplace.net to participate in DIY Day!

Thankful Hearts

This Thanksgiving season I wanted to try and teach my daughter thankfulness and reflect on it a little more myself. As a child, Thanksgiving was my least favorite holiday--I always said it was a guys day-the girls have to do all the work while the guys watch football all day and our conversations around the table used to lend themselves to either sports, military (my brother serves in the military-of which I am proud of now) and politics-and it was a holiday with no presents (with the exception of a new ornament-thanks Mom!) It's only become recently that I have learned to appreciate Thanksgiving and learn to thank God for all the blessings in my life. So, I decided to make a Thankful tree in the house-not the cutest thing but for free-it gives us something to reflect on. First gather sticks around the yard or your neighbors'-I was only successful in finding a few branches that branched off. Also gather a few leaves of different shapes-these are your stencils for your homemade leaves. I wish I had a cute container/basket but I didn't but I did have several glass vases back when my husband used to give me flowers(sigh) so I spray painted it with the chalkboard paint and wrote "Give Thanks" on it. Stuck the sticks in and cut out the shapes of the leaves using fall leaves colors-brown, red, green,yellow, and orange construction paper. Every morning I ask Natalie what do you want to Thank God for today and we both fill out a leaf and tie it onto the branches. On Thanksgiving Day I will take them and untie them and we will talk about all the things God has given us or blessed us with.

Recovering Chandeleir Shades with tutorial

I am not a garage saler-I would like to be-I get a thrill out of shopping, bargain hunting, and going through people's junk but toting two small kids around and never having cash limits these excursions. I did go to one a few weeks ago though that was just down the street and bought some shades for our chandeleir for $1.25 for 5. I have some Pottery Barn ones that are neutral and I like but for $1.25 I wanted to see what I could do with it. So off to Hobby Lobby this week to pick out some fabric and get some spray adhesive!

To get the pattern of your shade get some brown paper and start your lamp shade (do the bottom first) at the seam and using a pencil follow the pattern as you roll the lamp shade across the paper until you reach the seam again. Go back to your starting place and do the top part now. Connect the top and bottom with a line. Cut out your pattern (you can add about 1/2 inch to all sides to ensure you have enough) and pin to fabric. Cut out. Using spray adhesive, spray glue onto backside of fabric and place on lampshade-starting at the seam and slowly pressing down to get a smooth finish. With extra sides fold over and hot glue (for some reason my spray adhesive did not stick well on the overlap)-and I did take this picture before I hotglued so sime sides are off. But a cheap and easy project overall to spruce up your chandeleir!

Halloween meal

I had my parents and good friends over for dinner Halloween night and I tried out a couple new dishes-no pictures but thought I would share-I wanted it to be Halloweenish so I made a pumpkin sausage pasta from Rachel Ray-I followed the recipe exactly-and it was really really good. I thought it sounded unusual to put it kindly and my mom even asked what to bring and I told her a backup-in case it was gross. Thankfully we didn't need it! So here is the link to that http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/pasta-with-pumpkin-and-sausage-recipe/index.html. I accompanied it with salad and bread and for dessert I made Snicker Cupcakes which I saw on the blogging world somewhere but with no recipe so I made my own-just a box of chocolate cake mix and I put a mini size snicker in the middle-baked according to package. Then frosted with chocolate frosting, drizzled some caramel and chopped some frozen Snickers to the topping! They were yummy-however the Snickers did sink to the bottom! Anyways, just wanted to pass on a good recipe! I will be making this again for sure!

You are Special Plate

Well hubby is on vacation and we are home this week so no new projects for a couple reasons-we are busy with the kids and I am on a bit of probation for last month's spending on craft materials. Can you blame me? I am so excited about this new hobby and I am pretty much starting from scratch on the materials. So anyways-he has my credit card :-(


But I did want to share a project I had done in the past that I am quite proud of. For Christmas last year I received a gift card to a paint your own pottery place and before Chase was born I went with a friend. I wanted to paint a you are special plate to use for job promotions, good report cards, birthdays, or really any reason to make the kids or family member feel special. We had one growing up and I have many fond memories from it. So here is mine: The glare is pretty bad but on the top it says, "We thank God every time we think of you" And the bottom says Phillippians 1:3.
I am participating in www.asoftplacetoland.blogspot.com DIY DAY

Halloween costumes

I don't know how much longer I will be able to have a say in the Halloween costumes with Natalie-I am surprised this year she didn't insist on being a Princess! Last year this is her as a peacock-my first homemade costume venture-and this year I went with another bird-a flamingo. You would think I have a thing for birds-but I don't-I just like costumes that aren't so ordinary. Here is Natalie last year as a Peacock and her costume this year as a Flamingo.

Little brother Chase I made as a Palm tree to coordinate-it's definitely different and a little corny-but I wanted him to be her little sidekick. Steven (my husband) is not thrilled about his costume-and neither was Chase!! He is pulling the fronds out of their places and trying as hard as he can to get this darn thing off! Note to self-don't try and make kids wear things above their neck--Natalie didn't wear her beak and Chase wouldn't even wear his hat for a picture.

Kitchen Chairs Receive a Facelift!!!

Before: (disregard the mess!)

After: I took it from a different view so you could see the other furniture tying into the room

Yay!!! Another item marked off my checklist! The kitchen table and chairs was given to us by my husband's dad when he moved--it was definitely a step up from our cheap butcher block table and chairs (which now serves as my crafting table in the basement). There are many things I love about this set-including it is extremely solid-great for small kids, having the bench to accomodate extra guests, and having two leafs so I can seat 10-12 people. However, the farm style wouldn't have been my first choice and there was so much buildup and wear and tear on the chairs and table. So I decided they needed a facelift--I was trying to figure out how in the world I would be able to paint in between the crevices--then it hit me--spray paint!! So I used TSP to clean off the residue, let it dry and spray painted away. After drying-I applied two coats of a semi-gloss polyurethane to protect it. I am so happy with how it looks and I love the contrast of the black/brown and how it ties in with all the other black furniture I have painted. I want to keep the tabletop brown but refinish it and was thinking of doing the legs of the table black-what do you all think?

*This is my first time participating in Kimba's DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land